Jeremias Kangas: “decentralized exchanges can make Bitcoin spread much faster”

If there’s someone that can be hopelessly positive about Bitcoin, it must be a Finnish. In this case, we’re talking about the CEO and founder of the platform LocalBitcoins.com, Jeremias Kangas, who recently talked with Bitcoin Magazine about his experience with cryptocurrency.

LocalBitcoins.com was created because, at the time, there weren’t good local Bitcoin exchanges. “Therefore, I started doing my own and hired my brother to help me. At first it was a really simple location-based list, with no user accounts and URL-based identifying. From there we iterated and improved the concept based on customer feedback and, nowadays, LocalBitcoins.com is vastly different from the initial prototype“, he explains.

According to Jeremias Kangas, P2P exchanges “are more resilient than centralized exchanges”. So, this lead him to believe that, in the long term, “decentralized exchanges will win over the centralized ones”. The software developer also believes that “decentralized exchanges can make Bitcoin spread much faster – if done right”.

For now, Localbitcoins.com “isn’t a real decentralized exchange, as we still rely on a central server. However, as with anonymity, decentralization is a floating variable, not a boolean. LocalBitcoins.com is less centralized than many others, and we have plans to develop our infrastructure to make it even more resilient”.

Along with his brother, this young entrepreneur has been innovating the digital coin universe. He says that, in the beginning of the entire process, when he stumbled upon Bitcoin, he was “mostly excited” with the encrypted protocol. “Then slowly I started to get a larger grasp on the socio-economic implications of Bitcoin. Currently, I’m mostly excited about the possibilities for 3rd world countries. The countries without a stable and cost-effective financial infrastructure or lousy national currencies can benefit the most”, Jeremias Kangas adds.

In a near future, his project LocalBitcoins.com “will have volume-based discounts”. The service currently has 44,000 users, but it’s conquering around 250 new users per day. They usually deal with a volume range in the 400-900 BTC per day.

With more users, safety can be an issue. So, Jeremias Kangas assures the company “will be improving the security issues with multiple methods“. The software developer and his brother, who also works at LocalBitcoins.com, are also “researching different identification methods, which would add credibility to users”. Currently, the platform has “SMS based identification, which sellers can require from trading partners. We will try to keep these as optional as possible, so that individual traders can check which kind of identifications or security measurements they require”.

According to the entrepreneur and Bitcoin enthusiastic, LocalBitcoins.com is present in “142 countries and 1.700 cities, but that most definitely isn’t enough”. Their plan is to expand to “at least 170.000 cities and have LocalBitcoins.com-branded franchise exchange shops popping up here and there. Global world domination is our goal”.

Maria is an experienced journalist currently living in the UK. She has been writing about Bitcoin and the altcoin universe since 2013. She is also a member of the Lifeboat Foundation's New Money Systems Board and a big cryptocurrency supporter.